Rosenberg Scholar Casey Edward Greene speaks to Houston genealogists about a database under development to identify victims of the 1900 Galveston hurricane.

Casey Edward Greene, a scholar at Galveston’s Rosenberg Library, spoke to the Houston Genealogical Forum Saturday about his effort to profile thousands of victims of the 1900 hurricane that devastated the island.

“What drives me is a sense of mission,” he said. “This isn’t an ordinary research project. I believe I’m bringing justice to these folks.” [Read more…]

What got you interested in genealogy?

Pam:
Mrs. Kirkpatrick, my eighth-grade language arts teacher, gave us an assignment to research where our surname came from. I learned that Boyer was an occupational name similar to Bowman or Bow-yer—an archer, if you will. But I also checked out the two how-to books on genealogy at our town’s library and began a quest for my family history right then—in 1968. My fascination and addiction has only grown over these many years.

Rick:
My mother discovered in researching her family that she had five half-siblings she had never met. I took her to Pittsburgh to meet them – I was hooked after that!  [Read more…]

An intriguing story of researching Civil War ancestors, “Johann F. Gisch and The painting of The Battle of Lookout Mountain“, will be our featured presentation at the January, 2017 meeting.   Our speaker, Ronnie Janecka, has been interviewed about her genealogy work by Dana Leeds as part of our Getting to Know Our Speakers series.  Ronnie shares how she started her research, some tips and tricks in doing Civil War research, stories about one of her favorite ancestors, and more.

We hope you enjoy learning more about Ronnie.

What got you interested in genealogy?
My interest in genealogy began with my grandfather’s baptismal certificate which was written in German and hung in our family room. As a child I was not allowed to touch this document. Upon her death in January 2002, I retrieved it. Thus began my journey with only 5 names registered on the certificate. [Read more…]

A friend recently asked me to help research her Jewish ancestors.  Her initial question was – where did my father’s family live in Poland?  The family story was that her grandfather emigrated to the United States at a very young age.  Her parents had divorced in the early 1950’s and she had not maintained a relationship with her father.  However, she did have a wonderful family picture of her father, his siblings, and her grandparents.  She also had family stories that she shared with me.  For example, her paternal grandfather, George, had his own business of manufacturing ladies’ garments in the Bronx and had lost a lot of money in the stock market crash of 1929. [Read more…]

Alan Leeds, our First Vice President and Program Chair, gave the featured presentation on “Tracing the Schoenemans in Pittsburgh and Germany” at the December, 2016 meeting. Allen graciously agreed to be interviewed by Dana Leeds for our blog. He shared about how he got started in genealogy research, some tips to researching in other countries, stories about one of his favorite ancestors, and more.

We hope you enjoy learning more about Alan.

What got you interested in genealogy?
Both my mother and one of her cousins had worked on genealogy, so I must have it in my genes.  However, I got my start while attending a convention in downtown Salt Lake City.  I stepped outside for some fresh air and, out of curiosity, wandered into a building labeled “Family History Library.”  After an orientation at the library, I was hooked.

You are the First Vice President for HGF. Can you tell us about some of your responsibilities as Program Chair?
I am new to this position, so I will know more about the answer this winter as the planning for the 2017-2018 season begins.  Right now we have the already planned 2016-2017 schedule, so the work involves contacting the speakers, helping with travel, learning about any special requirements, setting up the projector, advertising the Forum at outside meetings, etc. I have a great team to work with. [Read more…]

 The November, 2016 General Meeting featured three presentations on DNA and Genetic Genealogy by Diahan Southard. For the third in our series of blog interviews, Dana Leeds asked Diahan about how she got started in both genealogy and genetic genealogy, her view on how the field of genetic genealogy will be changing in the near future, and more.
 
We hope you enjoy learning more about our presenter.

What got you started  in genealogy?
DNA is actually what got me started in genealogy.

How did you get interested in DNA?
It all started in college when I worked for the Sorenson Molecular Genealogy Foundation, one of the first efforts to combine genetics and genealogy. That project grew into a business that I worked for until I went out on my own. [Read more…]

The October, 2016 General Meeting featured the  presentation entitled “Found It Online; Must Be True: The Case of Plato Denney of Liverpool, England” by Allen Petersen.  For the second in our series of blog interviews, Dana Leeds asked Allen about how he got started in genealogy, how he first got published in the NGSQ, how he gained experience in British genealogy while living in the United States, and more.

We hope you enjoy learning more about our presenter.

When did you start doing genealogy and what got you interested?

I have been interested in my family origins for as long as I can remember. When I was about eight, my mother showed me some charts depicting my English ancestors. I stared at the charts for a long time, wondering who these people were. My father told me stories about my Danish ancestors and the hardships they endured when they came to Utah.
As a geologist, I developed very detailed skills used in finding oil and gas. It has been an easy transition applying some of these skills to genealogical research.  [Read more…]